yeah they do, when I was a yonker and lived at my grandparents farm, all my grand-dad had was what was then called a "come-a-long" and that's what he used to get anything unstuck, pull chain link fences, hoist things in the air, etc.

They are slow and I'd get a better one than a Harbor Freight deal, but in a pinch, they'll get you unstuck. So will a Hi-Lift jack. Matter of fact I have one of each, although I own three winches, all Warn, if you count the 2000 lb. one on my ATV, but I still use a come-a-long for certain tasks...

yeah they do, when I was a yonker and lived at my grandparents farm, all my grand-dad had was what was then called a "come-a-long" and that's what he used to get anything unstuck, pull chain link fences, hoist things in the air, etc.

They are slow and I'd get a better one than a Harbor Freight deal, but in a pinch, they'll get you unstuck. So will a Hi-Lift jack. Matter of fact I have one of each, although I own three winches, all Warn, if you count the 2000 lb. one on my ATV, but I still use a come-a-long for certain tasks...

Ditto, although my handyman jack has been more handy than my come along

__________________
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Yes they work, slowly and only a few feet at a time. I used one like this in the past and it works fine, the two big issues for me where:

1. They only pull you a few feet, and then you have to unhook and reset. When you do this you have to find another way to take the tension off the hand winch (come-along in this case) and anchor the vehicle. I used a hi-lift and come along together. Once I maxed one of them I would switch to the other, kind of like leap frog.

2. When you are using a hand winch you are in the "Kill Zone". If something is to snap, slip or break you are caught in the middle of it all.

I used my little hi-lift, come-along set up only a couple times before I decided to buy an actual winch. I felt it was too much work and too dangerous to keep using hand winches.